"Knowing where they come from, I don't care too much about it," he added, abruptly.

Barca stand-in coach Jordi Roura insisted that Villa remains instrumental to the club's project, with the Spain international having initiated the turnaround after Alberto Botia put the visitors into a shock lead on the stroke of half-time.

"We've always said that Villa is a key player for us," Roura told reporters. "He consistently shows it. He scores easily and that's very important.

"At half-time, I asked the players to stay calm and not to hurry. Alexis [Sanchez] got a serious knock, so [Cristian] Tello came on earlier and added a lot, creating space for others.

"Of course we're worried about conceding goals. We try to improve that, just like we try to improve other things."